Your team probably didn't make it into the Super Bowl this Sunday, but there are advertisers who are gambling that you're going to watch it anyway. And there's a reason some of these same companies are headed to the high roller's table: They know you'll be watching.

According to last year's Nielsen Media Research, 40.4 percent of U.S. households watched the Super Bowl. Pair that piece of information with a Domino's Pizza estimate of more than 1.2 million pizzas expected to be sold. Tie it to the fact that when you type "Super Bowl Party" into Google, there are more than 805,000 corresponding pages. Then give it a few drinks, and you've got Super Bowl Sunday: an American-made holiday. Oh, yeah, and there's football.

Some say it's the commercials. Penn State advertising Professor Wayne Hilinski attributed that reasoning to the fact that the Super Bowl is one of the biggest draws on television.

"Super Bowl Sunday delivers the biggest audience in the U.S.," he said. "Even though [the price for a 30-second spot] is $2.3 million, it's fairly cheap because you're reaching tens of millions of people. Maybe even more."

This Super Bowl is the 20th anniversary of the Ridley Scott-directed commercial unveiling Apple's Macintosh computer. The ad displayed Apple as a beacon of free thought in the totalitarian state of George Orwell's 1984. Scott was told to make an ad that would stand out; now it stands as the platform that launched the inspiration for the next 20 years of Super Bowl commercials. To illustrate this change, look no further than the money involved, Hilinski said.

"Based on prices, [Super Bowl Sunday] has grown as the audience has," he said. "Apple paid about $300,000 for that ad in 1984."

As commercials paint the canvas of Monday morning conversation, it is hard to determine which color will be the brightest.

"[The Super Bowl]'s a carnival; why be serious?" Hilinski said. "I think humor is effective. But there is the old business cliché: 'It's funny, but will it sell?' "

There are multiple paradigms in which to view the roles commercial play in effecting consumer's choices. Jennifer Booze (sophomore-advertising) demonstrated how the success of Super Bowl ads is rooted in basic advertising concepts.

"An ad is great when the person watching it feels like it is speaking directly to him or her," Booze said. "[For the Super Bowl], the target audience is so large and that could make it less personal. But they make up for it with the creativity."

Adam Silverblatt (sophomore-business administration) has grown up watching the cultural phenomenon that is Super Bowl Sunday and the accompanying commercial craze.

"Everybody's watching the Super Bowl," he said. "A lot of times, they aren't even selling a product. They are trying to create the buzz, which oftentimes comes before the money."

Booze noted that the best ads are saved for the Super Bowl to reach the largest audience.

"The Super Bowl has the most innovative ones," Booze said. "Have you ever seen anyone change channels from the commercials during the Super Bowl?"

This type of captive audience has made the Super Bowl the ideal marketplace for companies with something to say or at least companies that want consumers to think they do.

"A lot of first timers get on for instant credibility," Hilinski said "It says you are a player; you've got at least $2.5 million. It's an ego thing and a status thing. A lot of clients that don't play say it's too big of a chunk out of their budget for just one day."

Hilinski added that it isn't just the 30-second spot that companies are paying for. It's what follows.

"The buzz is phenomenal," he said. "If you factor all that in, the price is not so bad. It depends how much you value that buzz."